The quotation by Lew Welch under my title, which is from "Chicago Poem," reminds me of an old woman that Dick Crooks met. She was in her 90s and bragged that she hadn't voted in 20 years. When Dick asked her why not, she said, "I don't want to encourage them." A great reason!
Voting at the national level is a joke because the voters have nothing to say about the candidates because, in fact, only those with considerable means, or a way to raise it, have a realistic opportunity. Campaign finance reform needs to happen, this for decades, but nothing meaningful gets done about it. Power does not give up power. We need a dozen political parties, not two. We need healthy chaos instead of corporate-controlled order.
This is why Joyce called history a nightmare. How do we wake up? Norman Brown said, Doing nothing, if properly understood, is the supreme action. Timothy Leary said, Turn on, tune in, drop out.
I say, I ache, therefore I am.
How to tell a story
